Ribwort Plantain Perennial Seeds Plantago lanceolata

Description

Ribwort plantain is a perennial herb whose palatable leaves and seeds provide valuable nutritious food for grazing stock and wildlife. Ribwort Plantain is a plant of grasslands, field edges and cultivated ground and tracks, and regularly pops up in lawns as a weed. It flowers between April and October; in contrast to the long flower spikes of Greater Plantain, the short, oval flower heads of Ribwort Plantain appear as if balanced on the top of their thin, wiry stems. Its seed heads remain for most of the winter providing food for Goldfinches and other seed-eating birds. Ribwort Plantain is also the subject of a game that’s similar to conkers – children pick the stems and knock the flower heads together, battling it out to see whose head drops off the stem first.